Oh yes. Summer is finally, emphatically here, and with it my birthday. (Here in crazy, upside-down and back-to-front Canada, my birthday comes at the beginning of summer, instead of in the middle of winter. I know! Weird, eh?) And to celebrate? White anchovies--or, as the Spanish say (much more glamorously, to my ear) boquerones en vinagre. These silvery, soft, melt-in-your-mouth morsels could only have come from that bastion of culinary genius, with its intuitive appreciation of simplicity, Spain. They bear only a passing family resemblance to their brown, hairy, gritty cousins, because they are deboned before being pickled in vinegar, rather than packed in salt; the two kinds of anchovies, both wonderful in their way, are completely different beasts. The vinegar both softens and whitens boquerones; it produces an ethereal anchovy experience. One Chowhounder has described them as "fish candy", and really, they are that addictive. Ever since I found a supply in Toronto (at Scheffler's Deli in the always-wondrous St Lawrence Market), I've kept a container in the fridge for surreptitious snacking. I am an aficionado of pickled and preserved fish of all kinds--Danish rollmops, Thai shrimp paste, and especially salt cod--but this might well be my all time favourite. No wonder I decided to make my birthday present to myself out of it. Who needs cake? ¡Viva los boquerones!
Birthday Salad
Serves 2 as an appetizer or light main
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
6 loosely-packed cups rocket (baby arugula)
12 white anchovies
100g chevre (soft goat’s cheese)
½ medium red onion, thinly sliced
½ medium fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced
50g roasted red pepper strips (optional)
Chive flowers (optional)
Whisk the oil and vinegar in a bowl and season. Toss the arugula, onion, and fennel in the dressing; pile onto plates. Top with the pepper strips and anchovies, and crumble the cheese in large chunks over the salad. Use scissors to roughly snip chive flowers over, and drizzle with a little extra dressing, if desired. Serve with fresh crusty bread, a glass of chilled rosé wine, or (as in Spain) a glass of icy cold beer.
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